Another great start for Metea Valley

It was déjà vu all over again for the Metea Valley boys basketball team on Friday night.

A week after racing to a 20-0 lead at Neuqua Valley, the Mustangs jumped to an 18-0 advantage against Naperville Central, rebuffed a few second-half Redhawks runs and came away with a 67-56 DuPage Valley Conference victory.

"We were able to put pressure on them early, force some turnovers and play fast. That's what we want to do," said Metea coach Matt Walpole. "The guys were also really pumped up to be playing their first home game of the season."

The main beneficiary of Metea's incendiary start was Jeremy Hunter, who scored 10 points during the opening burst, all on layups after the Mustangs (3-4, 2-1) had either recorded a steal or forced a harried Naperville Central (2-6, 0-3) shot.

"We were pushing the intensity, going fast and not allowing the other team to get into their stuff," Hunter said. "They lost track of me so I just went to the basket and everybody found me."

The Mustangs led 22-5 after one quarter and by as much as 28-6 early in the second quarter with Ashton Creal joining Hunter with 5 baskets at that point, while Manny Hess and Jayden Reed also had multiple hoops.

The first sign that the Redhawks would not go quietly came in a 41-second span midway through the second quarter as Noah Swope sandwiched 5 points around a Tyler O'Brien basket to carve the 22-point deficit to 28-13. The Redhawks run eventually grew to 13-4 as they crept within 32-19 at the half. O'Brien, who is still working his way back to full fitness after a preseason ankle injury, came off the bench to ignite the spurt with 4 points, 2 assists and an offensive rebound that turned into a basket.

Hunter, Payton Thorne and Mike Brown tried to keep the Redhawks at bay with third-quarter 3-pointers, but Dillon Kane hit a pair of 3s himself and Naperville Central held the Mustangs scoreless for the final three minutes of the period. Patrick Meier and Nick Kramer combined for 6 points in that stretch to pull Naperville Central within 43-37 after three stops.

That was as close as they could get, though, as Thorne scored 10 points and Hunter added 8 to his game-high total of 21 as the Mustangs were able to keep Naperville Central at arm's length.

Looking back, Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer knew it was the difficult first quarter that spelled doom for his squad - though he admired the way they fought back into the contest.

"These kids don't quit, but we've got to find a way to put a complete game together and we haven't yet - and when we do, it will be fun to watch," he said. "We weren't ready to go and we're not a good enough team to not be ready to go. We've gotta find something; we're not consistent and we've got to be consistent. When we are, we'll be successful."